Scientists have recently discovered that poisonous blooms of hydrogen sulphide off the coast of Namibia are being detoxified (I prefer “eaten up”, but I’m not much of a scientist) by blooms of a sulphide-oxidising bacteria closely related to Candidatus Ruthia magnifica, a bacteria found in mussels that live near the hot vents and cold seeps of the deep ocean. A bacteria that eats (sorry, detoxifies) a dangerous poison sounds like a good thing, to me, but it isn’t that straightforward:
“There is a very positive as well as a worrying aspect of our discovery of a gigantic bacterial bloom detoxifying hydrogen sulphide,” said Dr [Marcel] Kuypers. “Hydrogen sulphide is toxic to higher life and even at low concentrations it will instantly kill fish, oysters, shrimps and lobsters. The good news is that the discovered groups of bacteria seem to consume the hydrogen sulphide before it reaches the surface waters where fish are living. It is worrying news, however, that an area the size of the Irish Sea or the Wadden Sea was affected by sulphidic bottom waters, without this being visible on satellite photos or detected at the monitoring stations closer to the coast.”
Hydrogen sulphide has been responsible for mass extinctions, so it is indeed worrying that we don’t really have any idea of how much of it is currently floating around in the deeper reaches of the ocean.
This is a satellite image of a bloom that wasn’t detoxified:

That photo came from the image gallery on the MODIS Rapid Response System website. There’s a lot more amazing satellite imagery on there, too, if you have time to browse; or if browsing is too much effort, grab the RSS of their Image of the Day. And don’t forget the bacteria that may be holding back the apocalypse.
(via Physorg.com)